The Marcia Quick Gard Theatre Arts Scholarship

About Marcia Quick Gard

Marcia was born on June 23, 1952, in Rochester, Indiana, to Robert Carl and Betty Hayden Quick. She graduated Rochester High School in 1970. She graduated Manchester College in 1974 with a double major in French and Speech/Theatre. During her undergraduate studies, she spent her junior year abroad studying theatre at L’ecole Superieure d’Art Dramatique in Strasbourg, France. Marcia received an Indiana State Teacher’s Certificate in French from Ball State University in 1983, and also in Speech Drama from Manchester College in 1986. In December of 2009, she received a Master of Science in Rehabilitative Counseling from the Medical College of Virginia (VCU).

Marcia taught French, Dramatic Arts and Foreign Culture classes for public school systems in Mishawaka, Plymouth and Gary, Indiana, from 1983 until 1987.

She married Larry Gard on July 26, 1986.

Throughout her adult life, and in addition to her work as a teacher and mental health provider, Marcia accomplished a great deal as an actress in both community and professional live theatre. In Indiana, she portrayed Charity in “Sweet Charity” and Lizzy Curry in “110 in the Shade,” among other roles, for the Wagon Wheel Playhouse. She also portrayed roles for the American Cabaret Theatre, the Indiana Repertory Theatre, Lilly Theater, Edyvean Repertory, Casaday Repertory Ensemble, Epilogue Players, South Bend Civic Theatre and Indianapolis Civic Theatre.

She toured the state of Indiana under funding from the Indiana Humanities Council, portraying Louisa May Alcott in “Necessities” by Rita Kohn in 1990 and 1992, and as Gene Stratton Porter in “A Song in the Wilderness” by Larry Gard each year from 1993 to 1997.

In Richmond, Virginia, she appeared in a variety of roles for Richmond Shakespeare, CAT Theatre, Firehouse Theatre Project, Henrico Theatre Company, Chesterfield Community Theatre and the Carpenter Science Theatre Company. Other theatres for which Marcia portrayed roles include the Weathervane Repertory Theatre in Whitefield, N.H., and On Stage Productions in New York City, where she studied acting with Joanna Merlin, and voice with Tony Franco.